Cricket Scotland have announced a somewhat new look squad for the upcoming tour of UAE, where they play against the host’s and Ireland in an ODI Tri-series.
The tour will give good opportunities to players to get match practice before the all important World Cup Qualifiers in Mar 2018 in Zimbabwe. Ireland are already part of it and UAE will have to finish in Top 2 of ICC WCL Division 2 to qualify.
The tour will consist of two One Day International matches against Ireland (16th and 18th January) and UAE (21st and 23rd January) at the ICC Academy grounds in Dubai.
Scotland coach Grant Bradburn said on the announcement on Cricket Scotland website, “We are very grateful to have the opportunity to play this Tri Series in Dubai against two quality sides as an excellent build up to the WC Qualifier in Zimbabwe in March 2018. Michael Jones, Tom Sole and Scott Cameron will add freshness and youth to the squad. It is excellent to be including new young players who all have outstanding skills to offer and have earned their opportunities through consistent performances in 2017.
During this coming series, we will be developing our ability to win, with a variety of line ups, where we will challenge some players to take on subtly different roles.
In Associate cricket we get very few opportunities to provide players game time in a variety of positions – simply because every series has so much on it and we get precious little match time leading in. This Dubai series is no different in terms of importance, but we have full confidence in our players to take on different roles.
We must continually improve and give players the exposure to grow. Our sole intent is to qualify for the CWC 19 and to do that we must develop depth and allow players to show their vast range of abilities at international level. This series in Dubai will give us that chance to learn more about our players and refine our plans to qualify for CWC 19.”
Some of the players are missing from the squad. However, Chris Sole & Brad Wheal (West Indies tour with English County, Hampshire) and Dylan Budge (In New Zealand) remain integral part of Scotland’s plans for World Cup Qualifiers squad. Con de Lange, will most likely take upon the vice-captaincy role on his return as well after injury.
Scotland Squad for UAE Tri-series:
Kyle Coetzer (Captain), Richie Berrington, Scott Cameron, Matthew Cross, Alasdair Evans, Michael Jones, Michael Leask, Calum MacLeod, George Munsey, Safyaan Sharif, Tom Sole, Craig Wallace, Mark Watt & Stuart Whittingham
